Genetic Testing

Risks were higher for a new cancer in the opposite breast, as well as ovarian, pancreatic, and prostate cancers.

Updated guidelines say anyone age 65 or younger diagnosed with breast cancer should have genetic testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations.

Genetic tests that you can take at home miss more than 90% of BRCA mutations linked to cancer in people without Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.

Mutations in four genes linked to breast cancer greatly increase cancer risk in the opposite breast.

Telling children that their mothers have a genetic risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer doesn’t affect their long-term quality of life.

Women with ATM, CHEK2, or PALB2 mutations may benefit from starting annual breast cancer screening with MRI between the ages and 30 to 35 and an annual MRI and mammogram starting at age 40.

Women with a genetic mutation linked to a higher cancer risk who are diagnosed with breast cancer or ovarian cancer and receive chemotherapy treatment have the same or better survival rates as women who don’t have a genetic mutation linked to higher risk.

Women with a mutation in the BRCA1 gene likely have fewer eggs in their ovaries than the average woman, which may shorten their window of opportunity to have children.

Women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation had better menopause-related quality of life after having surgery to remove the fallopian tubes between ages 40 and 50, and then surgery to remove the ovaries much later, than women who had both the fallopian tubes and ovaries removed when they were in their 40s.

Black women and white women diagnosed with breast cancer have about the same rates of genetic mutations linked to a higher risk of breast cancer.

Surgery to remove the healthy ovaries and fallopian tubes reduces the risk of breast cancer in women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation in the first 5 years after surgery. The age at which a woman has the surgery seems to affect risk reduction more in women with a BRCA1 mutation than in women with a BRCA2 mutation.

People diagnosed with metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation treated with experimental veliparib and chemotherapy lived about 2 months longer without the cancer growing if they continued on veliparib after stopping chemotherapy.

Women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation who become pregnant after being treated for breast cancer don't have a higher risk of recurrence and their babies are healthy.

Women with a BRCA mutation who have their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed preventively are likely to have lower bone density after surgery, especially if a woman is premenopausal at the time of surgery.

The results from panel genetic tests looking at a dozen or more genes can be more complex, but these results are not causing women diagnosed with breast cancer more worry than older tests looking at only one or two genes.

The FDA has approved Talzenna (chemical name: talazoparib) to treat locally advanced or metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer in women with an inherited BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation.

A study suggests that breast cancer screening with MRI twice per year is better than one mammogram per year for finding breast cancer early in young women with a high risk of breast cancer.

Women diagnosed with advanced-stage, triple-negative breast cancer who have a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation have a better response to carboplatin than Taxotere.

On Jan. 12, 2018, the FDA approved Lynparza to treat metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer in women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation.

Research suggests that comprehensive genetic testing for Ashkenazi Jewish women, rather than only testing for the three BRCA1 or BRCA2 founder mutations, would help prevent breast cancer in this high-risk population.

A study estimates the risk of breast and ovarian cancer by age, taking into account family history and mutation location for women with a BRCA mutation.

A study has taken the first step in estimating the relative risk associated with 25 genetic mutations linked to breast and ovarian cancer.

A study suggests that genetic test results are not being clearly communicated to women and may be causing them to opt for breast cancer treatment that is more aggressive than they need.

A study strongly suggests that women with a BRCA1 mutation have a slightly higher risk of an uncommon but aggressive type of uterine cancer.